The Shadow Dancer
by Neona Nyx
Summary: *story inspired and based loosely off Skyrim* She watched as a woman in red danced before her, a woman that the dim light refused to touch. She watched as the blood red moon shined above them... an omen for dark times to come.
1. Chapter 1

The wagon rattled against the hard, uneven ground, a few of the prisoners thrown against each other. Half of them grumbling angrily and threatening one another. The other half staying quiet, silently praying to their gods.  
They were on their way to die.  
And they only have two choices, to meet their maker with brave defiance or cry for mercy they will never receive.  
Though two of the passengers were being strangely quiet. A blonde man who held a fire deep within his vivid blue eyes, he almost looked like he was plotting something. His escape? How he was going to die? Was he going to fight back and die on the bloodstain battlefield of his own making like the rest of his kind?  
And what about the cloaked figure. The black mass had a white rag tied around its mouth. And unlike the rest, this one was bounded by chains. And none of the prisoners knew why. However, the presence of the cloaked figure did set them on edge. None of them knew who this person was or what they were capable of doing.  
The prisoners were more afraid of it than they were of the imperial army who help them captive, the ones leading them to death.  
So, why should they be afraid of the cloaked figure? It was heading to death the same with the rest. They were going to die the same way. In fact the closer they got to the fortress the sounds of metal hitting wood grew louder as they head the screams and cries of others. Those who had to die before them.  
And the closer they got, the more observant the blonde man became. His hard body coiling up with preparation, his hands twitched as if he were going to grab something… though what exactly was going on through the head of the young man was impossible to figure out.  
Then the wagon stopped, the force causing people to shift in their seats.  
"Alright everyone off," a somber voice said as one of the men in armor came forward, someone who had their face hidden by a helmet. The only thing visible was his brown eyes as he scanned the prisoners lining up before him.  
"Come forward when I call your name," the man added, but before he could say the first name some coward decided to start running, and other followed shut. Men, woman, elf, orc's were quickly put down before they reached the border, though some souls were close… but not close enough.  
Twelve prisoners left out of about twenty.  
Though that number began to dwell down to nothing as two to three prisoners were called up at once.  
… four left.  
… two left.  
The blonde and the cloaked figure.  
"Cloud Strife and Willow Valentine."  
They were brought forward… each of them being dragged to the chopping blocks, two wooden stumps from trees that they chopped down when they built the fortress. But the wood was covered in fresh and crusted blood. And the last two had their heads forced down onto the wood. Watching as the men in executioners hoods lift up their axes.  
But as they brought them down an explosion could be heard, and then came the flames… and the demons.  
Chaos erupted all over the place, giving the blonde man known as Cloud Strife the means to break his bonds and get out of here, and he was going to take out anyone- or anything- that stopped him.  
Though as he ran for a weapon, he heard the sounds of chains hitting together… it was the hooded figure. The last surviving prisoner, besides himself. But the figure had it's head up and under the darkness was eyes so red they reminded him of someone from either the dark elf clan or someone from… from the vampire clan.  
Oh Shit, Cloud though as he got a better look at this being. Instead of gray skin of a dark elf thing person had moonlight colored skin. Pale as they came, vampires were the evilest of creatures, they didn't care about the human race or any race and wanted nothing more than to enslave their food source.  
He would have hit this thing away to knock it down and let the demons have it, but he heard it talk. Or at least he thought it was talking, all he heard was a muffled feminine voice. A voice that sounded almost human, but the growls she was making said otherwise. It was thick and guttural, almost demonic in a way.  
"I'll help you get out of here," Cloud said, "but I won't unchain you or remove the gag, I don't trust you not to sink your fangs into my throat."  
As he said that a large gust of wind made the hood fall away to reveal blood red hair to match her eyes? And oddly enough she also looked sort of more human than vampire; she had this doll-like face, but the scar on the left side of her face which showed her mortality. She also reminded him of an innocent young girl who didn't know about the evils of the world. Though looks can be deceiving, Cloud knew that first hand…  
The vampire rolled her eyes but nodded, and followed after his as Cloud tried his best to not only dodge the monsters that appeared but the men trying to stop him. Cloud needed a weapon!  
At least you can use the vampire as a shield, if you are ever in a bine you could pushing her at an enemy, Cloud thought as the pair ran through the fortress, looking for an armory or for a sword on the ground- through those were all broken.  
With an angry grunt the vampire ran ahead and gestured towards a building were the reinforcements just came out of only a few moments before. Maybe she was on to something. Maybe there were weapons in there… or it was a trap.  
Oh well, at this point he had nothing to lose.  
 _Except for your life.  
_ Though at this point he couldn't help but wonder why he was still alive at this point.  
 _Because there are still things you want to do, places you want to see, and someone to forget._  
But would dying here be too bad?  
 _Yes… yes, it will!_  
He threw the door open and let the vampire run in first but as he closed it behind him he hard metal hit the floor… and in the darkness, he saw her red eyes.  
Then her gaze was gone, but that's when he felt it. A pain in his neck… and he swore he could feel his life fading.  
He tried to fight her off, but it was too late.  
The darkness overtook him. 


	2. Chapter 2

"He is not going to wake up for a while now," a voice called out from the hall making the young healer in the chair jump as she was caught in this room… again, "we don't know if he'll ever wake up, so you might as well just leave him alone and wait for other patients to arrive."

The brown-haired woman turned to see an older man in the doorway with his arms across his chest as he watched the young woman pat the unconscious man's head trying to bring down a fever.

For someone who's been unconscious for weeks his body continued to run at a high temperature. And Aerith thought that if she were to cool him down, then he might awaken.

"He shouldn't be alone when he finally wakes up," Aerith muttered, "and besides someone needs to help fight the fever. And who knows he might finally wake up."

"But let one of us watch him. I don't trust him at all. He came in with bite marks on his neck, the stranger is most likely a vampire servant."

"I doubt that," Aerith replied, "I'll be fine. Why don't you go help the trainees before they destroy something again, you know what kind of things happen when they get bored."

"Damn it your right… But I'm sending someone to relieve you of your duties," the man said, "I'm not kidding you shouldn't be alone with this... man."

Then he left.

And Aerith went right back to patting the blonde man's forehead with a cool cloth, and that's when she noticed it. That there was another pair of eyes staring right back at her.

Before she could say anything or process the fact that he just woke up, he quickly pinned her to the floor. And she didn't even hear or feel- at least not at first- her body hit the ground.

"Hey!" She yelped indignantly, and if her hands were free she would have slapped him. Then again she could kick him, she tried only to find that her legs were as trapped as her hands. Aerith started to feel scared, "No! Let me go!"

She wasn't that scared, but she was pissed at the nerve this man had. Aerith helped him and like a rabid dog, he attacked her- in fact, she swore that he was growling too.

But then his vision seemed to clear up and focus on her, which switched his expression from anger to shock and he slowly got off of her.

"Sorry," he muttered, "I thought… nevermind… where am I?"

Aerith tilted her head, "you're at the temple of Asa, we found you outside and covered in blood. Had a pretty nasty neck wound too."

Aerith really hoped that he wasn't some sort of vampiric servant who will destroy everyone here. But he sounded and looked somewhat normal, though there was something about his eyes that had her on edge with the vivid blue color. Eyes that drew her in, there was no evil but it did hold darkness within its depths.

The man reached up to his neck and felt the banged there, before angered sparked in his eyes again.

"Why that little vampire bitch," he growled, "when i get my hands on her!"

Aerith was about to say something when she heard someone running up the stairs and voices calling her name. Those wondering if she was alright or wondered what the earlier commotion was about- when she hit the floor.

Moments later the door opened showing her a group of people staring at her and the man sitting on the ground.

"Well," Aerith said, "he's awake now."

/

The healers were more than happy to see Cloud go since most thought that he was a bad omen. They still looked at him with mistrust… except for the one. The green-eyed woman who made sure that he was resting and taking care of himself. And not letting him go before he was fully healed.

But she couldn't stop him from leaving now. The carriage was here to take him to the nearest town- and they paid him to leave and never return. Which was fine by him.

He had places to be… a vampire to kill.

And being bedridden did nothing to help his mood. He wanted to get out, and he finally could leave.

If only he knew the trouble that would follow him.

Trouble that snuck into the carriage and he didn't realize that she was here until he heard a sharp breath in pain as the rocky road caused everything to bounce around… including the green-eyed woman that wanted to stay hidden. But she should have known better… Cloud would have found her eventually, though to what end?

It's not like he could do anything about that now…

"What are you doing here," he asked when he opened the compartment that she was in, "and why did you follow me?"

"I wanted to make sure that you wouldn't hurt yourself again…" Aerith muttered, " I didn't believe them when they said you were fully healed and could leave… Okay, fine! I was curious about the outside world and I used you as an excuse to leave."

"Tell the driver to take you back home!"

"I won't!"

"Why?"

"Becuase… I don't want to go back, closed off to the world," Aerith muttered, "the stories who told the children- the healers in training- it made me want to see the world."

 _I guess she was in the room,_ Cloud thought before he added, "most of those where only myths. Tales about how our world began. It's not as beautiful as the stories make it sound, even if it was humans and other creature have ruined it."

"Still… I want to see it."

/

Cloud thought he could lose the woman… but Aerith kept following him.

"Wait!" she would yell as he looked through the good for the market. From food to weaponry.

"Why are you still following me."

"Because," she replied, "it's a good idea to stick with the wall of muscle."

"Oh great… and you won't leave me alone."

"Depends, will you abandon me?"

Cloud sighed, "I'm Cloud Strife, and on my family name and honor I promise to keep you safe."

"Jeez, could you sound any more "sincere"," Aerith muttered, "I'm Aerith, and I'll make sure you won't do anything stupid."


End file.
